Ghost

Marie knows there’s something different about the woods near her uncle and aunt’s home. Something… not right. She’s very close to her twin, Ben, but the strangeness she feels isn’t something she can easily share. How would she explain the strange visions, or how she goes somewhere else in them?

Sarah has been raised by her mother to become a healer like herself. Using plants and the nature that surrounds them, Sarah learns as she grows. But when she is thrown out from the house they live and work in, she must mourn the loss of her mother and home, and find another. With the help of a strange blackbird, she discovers an abandoned hut in a wood. It’s not her only discovery. It’s not the only thing hiding in these woods, and Sarah can feel it’s evil presence.

Aine is devastated by the loss of her entire village and family to the swords of Roman soldiers. Now a slave and mute, she knows she must flee. But what is waiting for her in the woods? Is it worse than the Roman army’s treatment? It’s only when she sees two other girls – strangers from somewhere else in time, that she realises she is not alone in her fear of the devil spirit.

Can they work together to vanquish the terrifying spirit that haunts the woods and their dreams? Is it possible to reach across thousands of years to link together in their quest. With some help from a special blackbird, loved ones who believe in what they are seeing and an unearthly bond through time, Marie, Sarah and Aine finally discover the solution to what haunts them.

 

Told in three first person viewpoints from now, 1783 and 60AD, GHOST is an intriguing story of myth, beliefs, time and an evil spirit.

The three protagonists, Marie, Sarah and Aine are all interesting in their own times, giving readers not only three strong woman characters to root for, but a snapshot of the time where they live, and the contrasts between them.

The setting is a wood, not far from a beloved aunt and uncle. The same wood hundreds, and then thousands of years before that holds something evil in a hidden warren of caves and tunnels.

I enjoyed Hawkins introduction of each girl, highlighting personal losses and how they all end up in the same wood, years apart. The knitting of their stories and their connections are gradually revealed through the novel, bringing a nail-biting and fast-paced ending.

Just as thrilling and eerie as Finbar Hawkins’ previous novels, STONE and WITCH. He nails historical middle grade with a tingle-up-the-spine vibe every time.

 

Author – Finbar Hawkins

Age – 12+

Publisher – Bloomsbury

 

Out UK November 2026

 

 

 

 

(2025, Bloomsbury, Twins, Family, Spirits, Multiple viewpoints, First person, Myth, Multiple time zones, Ghost, Roman Slave, Healer, Evil, Animals. Wolf, Wolves, Historical, Grief, Loss)

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